How Much Do Seniors Need to Save for Medical Care During Retirement?

A Michigan Medicaid attorney can help you to qualify for Medicaid coverage to pay for the costs of nursing home care and to help you cover the costs of other medical expenses that you may need as you get older. Recent reports suggest that seniors might need to have hundreds of thousands of dollars in savings to pay for medical care costs during retirement, even when they are covered by Medicare. Most people have a difficult time saving enough to cover all of their care costs, and you could lose your life savings and legacy if you cannot qualify for Medicaid when you need it.

Biddinger & Estelle, PC will assist you with protecting your wealth in case you require nursing home care or incur other high medical expenditures as you get older. It is best to make a plan to qualify for Medicaid long before the time when you actually require care if you want to protect as many assets as possible. Give us a call today to find out about the ways in which a Michigan Medicaid attorney can help you to protect your wealth by getting Medicaid to pay for your care.

How Much Do Seniors Have to Pay for Nursing Home Care?

According to the Cost of Care Survey conducted by Genworth in 2015, the median annual cost of a nursing home is $90,703. Obviously, this is far beyond the reach of most families to pay for. Unfortunately, these costs are not going to be covered by Medicare, Medicare Advantage plans, or most other kinds of insurance. Medicare and insurance companies only paid for skilled medical services, not the kinds of care most people need when they go into a nursing home.

For seniors who want to try to live independently as long as possible, costs are also very high. The median cost of a part time home health aid is $46,094. This, too, can be prohibitively expense and likely will not be paid for by most kinds of insurance.

How Much Do Seniors Have to Pay for Other Healthcare Expenses?

While nursing home care is often the biggest expense seniors face, there are also other healthcare expenditures not covered by Medicare as well. The Employee Benefits Research Institute recently released a report estimating what seniors will need to pay in order to get care during retirement.

The researchers who prepared the report calculated costs based on seniors with Medicare who purchased a Medicare Advantage Plan. They factored in premiums and other expenses and found a married couple with prescription drug use in the 90th percentile would need $350,000 in savings to have a 90 percent chance of paying for medical care during retirement. Very few couples would be able to afford the costs of this care.

Even those who had median prescription needs would need thousands saved. A couple with median prescription drug expenses would have to save $165,000 to have a 50 percent chance of being able to cover their healthcare costs.

How can a Michigan Medicaid Attorney Help You Get Covered?

Paying for nursing home care and other healthcare expenses would obviously require spending all of your savings- and even then, you’d be left broke very quickly.

Medicaid, unlike Medicare, can cover the costs of nursing home care. Medicaid can also provide coverage for many things that Medicare does not cover. Medicaid can even help to pay co-insurance costs and premiums that Medicare patients incur. This means if you can qualify for Medicaid, your out-of-pocket expenses for all different kinds of care would be much lower.

The problem is, many seniors cannot qualify for Medicaid because of asset limits. Medicaid restricts the amount of resources senior applicants can have when qualifying for the types of coverage they need as they get older. You might be forced to spend down you wealth until you have few resources and can get Medicaid to cover you. However, a Michigan Medicaid attorney could help you to avoid this by taking steps to protect your wealth. You need to act well before you need care if you want to protect the maximum value of your assets, so don’t hesitate to get legal help.

Getting Help from A Michigan Medicaid Attorney

A Michigan Medicaid attorney at Biddinger & Estelle, PC can help you to determine if you will be able to get covered by Medicaid to pay for nursing home care and other expenditures. If your assets would make you ineligible, we can assist you with the Medicaid planning process so you don’t have to spend down your life savings on the costs of medical care.

To find out more, join us for an estate planning seminar. You can also call us today at (989) 872-5601 or contact us online for personalized information on how Biddinger & Estelle, PC can help you.

Rachel is originally from Walled Lake, Michigan. She graduated from Walled Lake Central High School in 2006. After graduation she attended Central Michigan University in Mount Pleasant, where she earned her degree in History and Social Sciences in 2010. Rachel then went on to attend Thomas M. Cooley Law School in Ann Arbor, graduating Magna Cum Laude. Rachel is a member of the State Bar of Michigan and the American Academy of Estate Planning Attorneys. Rachel now resides in Cass City.

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